seasponge

Thanks Derek, will check them out.

I just recently lost my spinning outfit overboard (that's another story!), so am now in the market to replace it. The outfit I lost was a Shimano Bream Raider 1-4kg rod with a Shimano Stradic Ci4 2500 reel. I loved the Shimano Raider rod, and will probably replace it with the same, but keen to hear other suggestions in the ~$100-$150 price range The Stradic reel was great at first, but got quite noisy and crunchy after not much use. Would love to get another because it was such a nice reel initially, but after having another Shimano reel do similar, I'm keen to try other brands. Keen to hear reel recommendations in the ~$200 range. I'm currently leaning towards the Diawa BG 2500. Will be using the setup for bream and flathead fishing with SPs, lures, soft vibes etc. Thanks for any recommendations.

Looks good. Another dead simple option is crumbed. Dust in flour, dip in beaten eggwash, coat in panko breadcrumbs. I think i've converted from beer batter to panko crumbs, turns out crispier and not as greasy as batter can be sometimes. But either option is mouth watering for some fresh flatty fillets!

Good work. Nothing beats a mid-week fish to beat the crowds!

Oh god, here we go again. Cue the Shooters & Fishers party and every facebook doomsayer to start spreading false claims of banning livebaiting. Thought we went through this 6 months ago!

2 on 1 against Ponga. Ponga is ALWAYS going to go for the ball, not the tackle. Should've been a dummy and score under the posts.

Nice work!

Great video maniac! How do you rig them? Whenever i've tried live poddies targetting flathead, i just keep getting smashed by tailor biting the poddies in half, and no hook ups.

I've had 2 of the auto inflate jackets (moisture sensing) for 5 years. Never had em go off whilst in boat or washing etc, but did have one go off whilst it was sitting in the back of the car. But the cartridges have an expiry date and need to be replaced after a few years anyway. So 1 inadvertent trigger from 2 jackets over 5 years is ok by me.

I have found nippers in the area marked yellow. Across the flats between the yellow and Andersons, i have only ever found soldiers crabs. Not sure how harmoniously nippers live with soldier crabs, but i've never found both in the same area. I tried fishing with live soldiers for bait but very limited success. I think they just kept burying themselves into the sand.

I don't think we've had a run in tide in the Hawkesbury since last Friday 😄

Awesome video!! Thanks for sharing

I had a crack at using live poddies for flathead a month ago. Every single poddie was just getting smash so quickly by tailor, which would just bite the bait in one go, leaving nothing but the head left on the hook. Went through all our livies so quickly, and no flatties. Any advice for that scenario?

I have been reading Josh Niland's (aka the Fish Butcher) book The Whole Fish. There is a fantastic segment in there about storing and prepping fish that you are going to eat. I won't copy and past from his book, but basically his fundamental principals are: moisture is what causes bacteria and degradation so keep the fish dry at all times! I have followed his principals on whole fish that i have both caught and bought and the results are great. This is what i do, based on his book; Keep fresh killed fish in ice slurry using sea water until you get home Scale if preferred (if i'm going to keep and cook the fish whole, will scale, but if filleting, i will leave the scales on). Wipe fish clean with paper towel only - do not rinse! Clean out gut cavity. Wipe clean with paper towel only - do not rinse! Store fish in the fridge so that it is covered, but not in contact with anything! To do this i place it on a wire rack, on a tray, then place another wire rack over the top, then cover in glad wrap. This prevents the fish pooling in it's own moisture. At no time, after the initial ice slurry, does the fish come in contact with water (fresh or sea). Doing this, the fish can be kept in the fridge for 5-7 days without starting to smell. The skin will have dried out from the fridge (hence the glad wrap), but the flesh has not degraded. The difference in freshness of the fish, and the ability to store for up to 5 days in the fridge is quite dramatic. I urge all fishos who are keen to look after their catch to seek out his book, and follow these principals. Now if i'm buying whole fish from the seafood shop, i'll ask them to give me the fish whole, uncleaned, guts and all, as they will normally scale and gut under running water.

Great tip!!

That's so awesome. Great report, exciting. I didn't realise we had Jacks in Sydney. What waterway were you fishing? Can't wait to see the vids. As motiondave suggested, upload to youtube and provide links here. You can prob just do the stitching on your phone using video editor.

Brother-in-law had BM 68 FK. Supposedly randomly generated licence plate

yep, me too. works fine for flatties, bream etc

😆😆 I made myself my own fish cleaning table at home 👍

Why not just take the fish home to clean?

awesome post and awesome videos. I love the crab fight! You woulda thought the young male woulda given up his pilchard for a female choc full of eggs. Like catching public transport in Sydney!

How do you use them for bait i.e. how do you put em on the hook, and how do you prevent them burying themselves in the sand?

They make it look so easy on the fishing shows!

I went through this in December. Did a lot of looking around this forum and others and 2 names kept coming up. Dexter Russell and Victorinox Swibo. In the end I found it hard to find those who stocked the Dexter Russell here and ended up getting the Victorinox Swibo from everten.com.au. I got a flexible blade filleting knife and a wider boning knife for under $80 for both. I haven't had the chance to fillet too many catches since then, but when I have used them they've been great. Everten were good too. I called them and spoke to them about preferred knives, and they were helpful.

Great report, great pics, great time!